Vision boards tap into the emotional side of motivation and can be a reminder of what you’re working towards daily. So, why not create a vision board for your business, too?
If we have met in person, you might know that every semester I sit down and refresh my vision board. I make an event out of it — sometimes I invite friends that also enjoy creating vision boards, and other times I sit by myself, magazines and scissors in hand. I light my candles, play some inspiring music and go for it, on my living room floor.
Without even knowing what this was, I’ve been creating vision boards since I was 12. That’s when I started taking English classes in my hometown in Brazil and decided to crop from my mom’s magazines all the experiences, places and things I wanted to have, and write about them in English, to build my vocabulary.
Thirty years later, my vision boards keep me focused. It also helps me reflect on what really matters in my life during a period of time, the visuals on my wall keeping me motivated to achieve the goals (and sometimes wild dreams!) I have set for myself. 🧡
Vision boards tap into the emotional side of motivation, and if placed strategically, can be a reminder of what you’re working towards daily. So, why not create a vision board for your brand, too?
In business and in life, we’re here to evolve. When was the last time you sat on your desk (or couch) and dreamt about what your business and brand identity can look like in the future?
You see, many designers and creative directors use vision boards for brands all the time, and they’re often called mood boards (and sometimes stylescapes, too). They’re a great way to see the big picture, gather all the different elements you want to incorporate into a brand and see how they work together.
If you’re currently thinking about a brand revamp, or creating additional marketing materials, I invite you to do this exercise. Gather your ideas and inspiration for your brand and bring the images, colors, textures, typography, and patterns that represent the vision (or mood) you want your brand to have. Your board can be as simple as one image or as sophisticated as you want it to be; the important part is having fun and being open to the ideas that might sparkle during the process.
Ready to create your board? Here are some pro tips.
I love scissors, glue and paper — seeing words and images and being able to touch them with my hands make a big difference when I’m in the middle of a vision board process (both for my company or my personal life). With that said, sometimes my old magazines don’t have all the inspiration I’m hoping to find. What to do? I head to Pinterest, Google Images and other image platforms that have the kind of inspiration I’m looking for — I save them all in a word document and print them later at Kinkos. That way I can use cute fonts, curate some textures and photos I’m looking for, and later put it all together in my physical board.
If you are more of a digital person, Canva and Pinterest are such great places to curate your board! In Canva you can create a collage and use that as your screensaver or computer background, to keep your ideas and goals always in mind. In Pinterest you can curate all your references and save them in a folder, that they also call a board.
And just in case you want to spice it up a little bit more, after you save all those amazing references, goals and dreams, how about making a video out of it and make this experience extra magical? That’s how I manifested my dog 🐾 And this is a story for another time 😆
